How Will He Find You?

I mentioned earlier the tornado that hit my university back in 2008. Since the campus was declared a disaster area, students could not go back to their dorm rooms or vehicles to collect their belongings. But the university authorized a team to do this for them, and because of my campus job, I got to participate. We went into each dorm, recovered what we could, then left it all in a labeled bag at a pick-up location. Most students were thrilled to get their stuff back. But for some, the news that various university officials, parents, and peers would be sorting through all the personal items they had carefully hidden in their own private spaces…“dread” might better describe what they felt. I can’t help but think of this situation whenever I read today’s text.

How do you want Jesus to find you when he returns? That’s the question Peter presses on us today. He has told us that the Lord will come like a thief: sudden, unannounced. On that day, “the earth and all works done on it will be exposed (3:10).” Everything in this world that does not glorify God “will be set on fire and dissolved,” to make way for “a new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells (3:11–13).” These events will catch the unbelieving world completely unprepared, but Jesus’ followers should be “waiting for these things (3:14).” So how do you want Jesus to find you?

It is a simple question, but also a clarifying one. What sort of person do you want to be when you see the Lord, face-to-face? What kind of life do you want to be pursuing at his arrival, when everything is exposed? If Jesus is bringing this present age to an end, do you want him to find you totally absorbed in it? If he has called you to a life of holiness and godliness, do you want him to find you talking like you’ve been talking, watching what you’ve been watching, chasing what you’ve been chasing, acting like you’ve been acting, treating people like you’ve been treating them? Once you figure out how you want Jesus to find you then, don’t you think it would be a good idea to start living like that now?

I think that Peter must be recalling all those parables he heard from Jesus, the ones recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus told many stories about masters of houses returning from long trips without warning, finding his servants in the middle of whatever they’ve been doing in his absence. Some he finds diligently serving him, because they love him and want to honor him whether he is watching them or not. These diligent servants rejoice when he appears; they have no reason to be ashamed. But the master finds other servants lying down on the job, or, worse, acting like they are the master—using his stuff and beating their fellow servants. With their disloyalty to the master exposed, this group is obviously horrified to see him at the front door.

We want Jesus to find us like those faithful servants in his parables. “Be diligent to be found without spot or blemish and at peace,” Peter says in 3:14. This does not mean we live in fear or anxiety about his return. It does not even mean that we can have no sin on our record, because we all will. But it does mean that we diligently pursue personal purity and peace with others. When we do sin, we should repent quickly and get back to living diligently for him in all the ways Peter has taught us. Don’t use the Master’s delay as an excuse for spiritual and moral laziness. God is being so patient with you, giving you time to make things right (see Rom 2:4).

Will you do that today?

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church